US stocks mixed while Europe slips on renewed French vote fears

NEW YORK, United States — European stock markets slid Tuesday as jitters resurfaced over impending French elections, while stocks on Wall Street ended mixed as investor darling Nvidia reversed course, driving the Nasdaq higher.

Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq and the broad-based S&P 500 rebounded while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell.

In Europe, Paris, London, and Frankfurt all ended the day lower.

Nvidia was back in the green, closing up 6.8 percent on Tuesday after falling sharply in recent days over concerns that the tech sector’s rally had gone too far.

The US company had briefly become the world’s biggest publicly listed firm last week, with a market capitalization of more than $3.3 trillion.

The Nvidia selloff “was not driven by fundamental factors,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading platform. “The company is still expected to generate epic profits this quarter.”

READ: Nvidia becomes world’s most valuable company on stock market

The focus is now on the release Friday of the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index — the Fed’s favored inflation gauge — with traders hoping for another slowdown that would give decision-makers room to start loosening policy.

“Basically all eyes are on the inflation,” Spartan Capital Securities chief economist Peter Cardillo told AFP.

‘Political uncertainty’

In Europe, the focus was on the upcoming elections in France on Sunday, which will be followed by a second round on July 7.

President Emmanuel Macron called the snap legislative polls after his centrist party was trounced by the far-right National Rally (RN) in the European Parliament elections two weeks ago.

READ: French stocks drag down European markets on vote fears

The euro remains supported even as some opinion polls show the RN leading, with a left-wing alliance in second and Macron’s centrists third.

“The latest French polls show that the far-right National Rally party has widened its lead ahead of the first round of voting on Sunday,” said City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta.

“Meanwhile, President Macron’s party is in third place,” she added. “Political uncertainty is deepening, which could limit the euro’s upside.”

Shares in Airbus, which are listed on both the Frankfurt and Paris exchanges, plunged around 9.5 percent after it announced a charge of 900 million euros, said it will deliver fewer aircraft than expected this year due to supply chain problems, and revised its profit forecast lower.